PSY 311 NCSU Exam 2 - Adam Meade

Self-concept

Our knowledge about who we are

Self-awareness

The act of thinking about ourselves

Self-schemas

Mental structures that people use to organize their knowledge about themselves and that influence what they notice, think about and remember about themselves

Western cultures' view of "Self"

Independent view of the self (one's own internal thoughts, feelings and actions and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings and actions of other people; ME)

Non-western cultures' view of the "Self"

Interdependent view of the self (one's relationships to other people; recognizing that one's behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings and actions of others; WE)

relational interdependence

emphasis on close relationships, more common among women

collective interdependence

focus on group membership, more common among men

self-regulatory research model

According to this model, self control is a limited resource, kind of like a muscle that gets fatigued with frequent use but then rebounds in strength

Introspection

The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings and motives

self-awareness theory

the idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values

Causal theories

Theories about the causes of one's own feelings and behaviors; often we learn such theories from out culture -- can lead to false judgments as schemas aren't always correct

intrinsic motivation

The desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting, not because of external rewards or pressures

extrinsic motivation

The desire to engage in an activity because of external reasons, not because we enjoy the task or find it interesting

overjustification effect

The tendency of people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons

task-contingent rewards

rewards that are given for performing a task, regardless of how well the task is done

Performance-contingent rewards

rewards that are based on how well we perform a task

Two-factor theory of emotion

Experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it

Appraisal theories of emotion

Theories holding that emotions result from people's interpretations and explanations of events, even in the absence of physiological arousal

Social comparison theory

The idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people

upward social comparison

comparing ourselves to people who are better than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability

downward social comparison

comparing yourself to people who are worse than you on a particular trait or ability

impression management

the attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen

ingratiation

the process whereby people flatter, praise, and generally try to make themselves likable to another person, often of higher status

self-handicapping

the strategy whereby people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves

self-enhancement

The tendency to focus on and present positive information about oneself and to minimize negative information

cognitive dissonance

When confronted with info implying that we may have behaved in ways that are irrational, immoral or stupid - we experience discomfort

Self-affirmation

Distortions aimed at protecting one's self-image as a sensible, competent person

Impact bias

The tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions to future negative events

The permanence of the decision

The more important the decision, the greater the dissonance; decisions also vary in how permanent they are/how hard to revoke

The Illusion of Irrevocability

the irrevocability of a decision increases dissonance and motivation to reduce it

lowballing

salesperson induces a customer to agree to purchase a product at a very low cost, subsequently claims it was an error, and then raises the price -- frequently the customer will agree to make the purchase at the inflated price

external justification

a reason or an explanation for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual (the less severe the threat, the less external justification)

self-persuasion

a long-lasting form of attitude change that results from attempts at self-justification

Attitudes

evaluations of people, objects, and ideas

Explicit attitudes

attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report

implicit attitudes

Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious

Behavioral processes

Consisting of your actions or observable behavior toward the attitude object

Affective processes

Consisting of your emotional reactions toward the attitude object

Cognitive processes

Consisting of your thoughts and beliefs about the attitude object

affectively based attitude

an attitude based more on people's feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Changing cognitively based attitudes

These can be changed with rational arguments

Changing affectively based attitudes

These can be changed with emotional appeals

Counterattitudinal Advocacy

process by which people are induced to state publicly an opinion or attitude that runs counter to their own private attitudes, creating dissonance

Yale Attitude Change Approach

The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages, focusing on the source of the communication, the nature of the communication, and the nature of the audience

central route to persuasion

The case whereby people elaborate on a persuasive communication, listening carefully to and thinking about arguments, as occurs when people have both the ability and the motivation to listen carefully to a communication

peripheral route to persuasion

the case whereby people do not elaborate on the arguments in a persuasive communication but are instead swayed by peripheral cues

Paying attention to arguments

The more personally relevant an issue, the more willing people are to pay attention and therefore more likely people are to take the central route of persuasion

Need for cognition

A personality variable reflecting the extent to which people engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities

Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion

An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change: either systematically processing the merits of the arguments or using mental shortcuts/heuristics

Theory of planned behavior

The idea that the best predictors of a person's planned/deliberate behaviors are the person's attitudes towards specific behaviors, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control

Specific behavior

The theory of planned behavior holds that only specific attitudes towards the behavior in question can be expected to predict that behavior

Subjective norms

We also need to measure people's subjective norms— their beliefs about how people they care about will view the behavior in question.

Self-reference effect

The tendency for people to remember information better if they can relate it to themselves

self-perception theory

The theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs

misattribution of arousal

Process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do

social tuning

the process whereby people adopt another person's attitudes

Three ways to reduce cognitive dissonance

1. changing behavior to bring it in line with the dissonant condition; 2. by attempting to justify our behavior through changing one of the dissonant conditions; 3. by attempting to justify our behavior by adding new conditions

Post-decision dissonance

Dissonance aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives

Justification of effort

the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain

internal justification

the reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself

Insufficient punishment

the dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in individuals devaluing the forbidden activity or object

cognitively based attitude

an attitude based primarily on people's beliefs about the properties of an attitude object

Persuasive communication

Advocating a particular side of an issue

elaboration likelihood model

theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route

Emotion and attitude change

In order to get people to consider your argument (change their attitude), play to their emotions

Fear-arousing communications

Persuasive messages that attempt to change people's attitudes by arousing their fears

attitude inoculation

making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position

Reactance theory

The idea that when people feel their freedom to perform a certain behavior is threatened, an unpleasant state of reactance is aroused which they can reduce by performing the threatened behavior (ex: smoking)

attitude accessibility

The strength of the association between an attitude object and person's evaluation of that object, measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about the object

Perceived behavioral control

intentions are influenced by the ease with which they believe they can perform the behavior

Subliminal messages

Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may nevertheless influence people's judgments, attitudes or behaviors